The Wood Shed

This is an arial view of my wood shed. My Hardy sits about 50 feet from the house

The Dolmar 7900

As far as I'm concerned this is the baddest saw on the planet.

Husqvarna 346 XP

This is by far the greatest saw ever made. The 16 inch bar could easily be a laser beam the way it slices through wood.

346XP at Rest

Here is a picture of my 346XP. I just cut up these locust rounds before I snapped this picture

Big Orange

Say hello to my little friend! (use your best Al Pacino voice) Big Orange is a Husky 455 Rancher with an 18 inch bar. This thing is bad news. It is such a powerfull saw but I am suprised how smooth it operates and how easy it is on fuel.

14 inch Poulan

I swear by the Poulan's. I know they are described by some as cheap "throw away" saws but I have had great sucess with mine. This one is six years old and still runs strong.

Fiskars Super Splitter

Throw your 6# maul away and get yourself one of these. This may be the greatest invention ever.

My stuff

This is a picture of my Hardy H2, my homemade woodshed and my woodpile for the winter of 08-09. The Hardy is in the middle of the woodpile. I use my woodpile as a windbreak and a snowfence.

Heat Exchanger Installed

This is me installing the heat exchanger. This should give you a good idea its location and approximate size. The tan thing is my forced air furnace in the basement

Heat Exhanger pt.2

This is what the heat exchanger looks like once installed. The orange lines are the 3/4 inch hot water Pex lines that carry the water between my OWB and the heat exchanger. If you lean in and squint you can see the copper tubes in the exchanger. A closeup is provided below.

Close up of the Heat Exchanger

I added this picture to show you a close up of the heat exchanger. It looks just like a radiator from a large truck. I did all this installation myself saving $1000.

Pex lines coming thru basement wall

The two lines going to the left are the feed and return for my hot water tank. The two lines to the right go between the OWB and the heat exchanger.

Tee on hot water tank feed

My Hardy H2 also heats my domestic hot water. The top line goes out to the OWB to pick up heat and the bottom line fills my hot water tank with hot water. You can see the valves I can switch to bypass this when my Hardy is not burning in the summer.

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About Me

I am a family man who asked a simple question..."Why do I have to pay money to heat my house?" Well, after some research I found my answer in purchasing an Outdoor Wood Boiler (OWB). Specifically a Hardy H2. While nothing is free...I traded money for my labor...I have been heating my 3000 sq ft. home for the last five years without spending a dime in gas. I hope you find this blog helpful if you are interested in buying one of these smokers or even if you have a OWB and just want to hang out with someone who knows a little bit about your life. I hope you get a chance to stop by as our house is always warm, no matter how cold it is outside.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Ok*I find trees to cut. I load up the truck with my saws, wedges and safety equipment. I drive to the trees. I cut up the trees. I load them in the truck. I drive home. I back up to the woodshed. I unload the logs. I make my neat woodpile. I repeat this again on a later day.*That gets me results. I do the labor and my results can be seen out in my side yard in the form of a hulking pile of firewood. Maybe all this is what makes me enjoy heating with wood and my OWB. I do the work, I see the results. I don't do the work, we all freeze in the winter. Come to think of it, I don't think there is anything else that I do in life that gives me the same results oriented outcome than my woodcutting for my Hardy H2. At my day job I do something good for the company...nobody seems to care or notice. I come up with a great idea to make the company more profitable...my boss shoots it down because he didn't think of it first. At home, I preach the virtue of family...my children fight with each other and argue. My VCR blinks 12:00 AM, my friends never come over to visit, my gun club doesn't mail me my monthly newsletter, McDonald's charged me .40 cents for extra tartar sauce on my Fillet-O-Fish...you know how it goes. But the wood cuts nicely into 30 inch rounds and stacks nicely in the shed. It burns when you put it in the firebox.*Today is my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I'm thinking of buying them a rick of firewood. Smokin